It's been a while since I’ve done a post on shortcuts in Pro Tools so I thought I’d return to the shortcuts I value above all others - zooming shortcuts.

I use far fewer zooming shortcuts than I know and day to day I pretty much rely on the same handful of keystrokes, (PC variants are given in round brackets). They are:

• Zoom out to show whole timeline - Option+A (Alt+A)

• Zoom in horizontally to edit selection - Option+F (Alt+F)

• Zoom Toggle - E

• Fit all tracks to window - CMD+Opt+Ctrl+up/down (Start+Alt+Ctrl+up/down)

• Zoom in/out - CMD+[/] (Ctrl+[/])

That covers 90% of my zooming needs. I’ve always used CMD + Square Brackets to zoom rather than R&T in Command Focus. I don’t know why, it’s probably because I learned it first. However I thought I might highlight the rest of the “Square Bracket” zooming shortcuts. I like these sets of related shortcuts. A good example would be the Ctrl+Shift Clip Gain shortcuts. They encourage the mousebound beginner into using shortcuts and I always tell students to try alternative modifiers with any new shortcut just to see what you find.

Square Bracket + Modifier Zooming Shortcuts

• Zoom Out Horizontal - CMD+[ (Ctrl+[)

• Zoom In Horizontal - CMD+] (Ctrl+])

• Zoom In Waveform - CMD+Opt+] (Ctrl+Alt+])

• Zoom Out Waveform - CMD+Opt+[ (Ctrl+Alt+[)

• Reset Waveform Zoom - CMD+Opt+Ctrl+[ (Ctrl+Alt+Start+[)

• Zoom To Selection Horizontally - CMD+Ctrl+] (Ctrl+Start+])

• Zoom to show whole timeline - CMD+Ctrl+[ (Ctrl+Start+[)

Of course there are always more shortcuts to be learned but in my experience the best way to make them stick is to “snack” on groups of new shortcuts. Learn a handful, use them, commit them to muscle memory and only then come back for more.

Any suggestions for “must have” navigation shortcuts?